How do I sell my house without an agent in Charleston SC?

We can help you sell your house or investment property in Charleston without using a real estate agent.

Avoiding the middle man eliminates the need to pay 5-6% of the sale on the property. We do cooperate with brokers, but sometimes it’s best to avoid paying someone to be in the middle.

SC brokers and real estate agents can be very useful and earn their commission in certain situations but not always.

There’s a few ways to avoid paying high commissions in your SC sale.

First, there’s a tricky custom that you’ve gotta know about.

In most sales in Charleston, roughly half of the commission you pay as the seller goes to pay for the buyer’s broker.

Doesn’t make much sense, right?

Why should you pay for the agent on the other side of the table?

Truthfully, it defies logic – it’s just what’s typically done.

You can use that to your advantage in a few ways.

First, factor in the commissions paid when you’re looking at the comparable sales. If the properties similar to yours sold for prices that included commissions, take that into account.

Don’t underprice your property– be aware that a savvy buyer may expect to take a discount too. If you’re doing the work of one agent, you can expect to save that money.

Sometimes in Charleston buyers who aren’t represented by an agent won’t remember to negotiate the buyer’s side commission out of the price for themselves, so don’t remind them if you don’t want to pay them. Just don’t be surprised if it comes up during the negotiation.

You may want to consider offering 2.5% to buyer’s agents who will bring their clients to show your property. Sure, it’s a lot of money. If you’re pricing your property including that commission, you can always negotiate a better deal for a purchaser who comes without an agent.

On the other hand, if you don’t leave room for the buyer’s agent’s commission, you’ll be excluding most of the buyers in the market in Charleston.

Over 90% of transactions happen through the MLS – that’s the Multiple Listing Service. It’s the main database that all the brokers in Charleston use to access information for their clients on the houses, condos, land and investment properties for sale, along with data on the sold prices.

Once upon a time, you had to pay a full commission to get your property on the MLS. Now in Charleston, there are a few brokers who will charge you a fee just to list your property on the MLS. Often, you spend a few hundred bucks and you only pay commission if the sale closes.

Compared to the cost of a newspaper ad, the MLS is a cheap way to market your property to a very wide audience.

All the major real estate search sites like Realtor.com, Zillow, Yahoo Homes, etc. get data from the MLS. Chances are good that when you submit your listing in Charleston to the MLS, information on your property will end up on most of the major sites within a few days.

Each of those sites sells ads. They’ve got packages that let you pay to enhance your listing, feature it at the top of the search, and a lot of other bells and whistles that might or might not get an interested buyer to buy your property.

Advertising is a gamble. Sometimes open houses in Charleston SC can be a great way to sell property, and sometimes they’re a waste of time. Same with newspaper ads, craigslist postings, fancy signs – sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t.

To effectively sell your property on your own, you have to market it well.

Putting up flyers and signs around your neighborhood can generate some calls, and there’s a lot of free websites where you can post information. But often just putting up flyers and an open house isn’t enough if your house doesn’t appeal to the average home buyer.

In theory, real estate agents charge big commissions because they have to spend a lot of money up front to advertise your property. By advertising lots of properties at once, they expect to get more phone calls – and obviously, they’ll make good profits by selling lots of houses.

Certain properties might require thousands of dollars in advertising expenses before the right buyer happens to see the ad and call.

If you want to avoid paying any commissions, you can also sell your house to investors like us for CASH

We pay fair prices for properties – and we can close fast (in as little as 3-5 days if you need to).

Sometimes we’ll purchase Charleston houses, fix them up, then rent them out… sometimes we’ll fix them up and sell them to other people looking for great homes in the area, and a lot of other reasons, too – but we love to hear from people like you who are thinking of selling anywhere in SC.

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Testimonials

Charleston Home Buyers

“…unsure of where or who to turn to,…”

After finding myself in a difficult situation and unsure of where or who to turn to, Curt, with Charleston Home Buyers, reached out to me. After we went over everything, he explained very clearly what my options were and answered all of my questions. I also had the pleasure of meeting a woman who worked with Curt who was very understanding and knowledgeable and helped tremendously throughout the process. I highly recommend them!”

Rosemary F. - Charleston (West Ashley) SC

Charleston Home Buyers

“…helped me get rid of my house in a timely fashion after my divorce.”

Curt was very courteous in assisting with my difficult military schedule and he was very informative. He and his attorney even came in on a Saturday to close since I could only come to Charleston for the weekend! Everything went according to plan and Charleston Home Buyers really helped me get rid of my house in a timely fashion after my divorce. Thank you Curt for all of your help!! “

Mark R. - Summerville, SC

Charleston Home Buyers

“…the best decision I have ever made…”

After my mother passed away and there was a huge reverse mortgage on her house, I researched thoroughly to find the BEST, friendliest, possible avenue to aquire the funds to deal with my decision to get into my mother’s house (which would be a step up). What “Topped the list” was Charleston Home Buyers. Curt was my contact. Extremely knowledgeable and eager to assist me. We discussed all aspects of the possible transaction and quickly came up with an agreeable deal that went all the way to the closing of my house, swiftly and successfully with all parties involved extremely happy with the outcome. At the closing, it felt like a family meeting . . . including the attorney!! Even months after the fact, Curt is still there for me when I call for anything. It has turned out to be the best decision I have ever made. 8 months since the closing and we still keep in contact 🙂

Homer (Mark) T. - North Charleston, SC

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